While digging around on pubmed tonight, I found a paper that measured food antigen response (IgE, IgA, IgG, and IgM) for common raw and cooked foods. With all the AGE research I have been doing lately, I have been moving toward a “more raw good, less raw bad” approach with food. This paper provides another aspect of the raw vs. cooked argument I felt was worth exploring.

Before I discuss the paper, I am going to briefly go over the 4 food antibodies measured in the study since I had to do some reading on them. The immune system produces antibodies to neutralize foreign objects, and it is estimated that humans produce about 10 million different antibodies. IgE antibodies are involved in acute allergy attacks, while the other three (IgA, IgM, IgG) are involved in delayed food allergies and intolerance. IgA antibodies are mostly produced in mucosal linings, IgG antibodies are made by white blood cells and found in blood and tissue liquids, and IgM antibodies are present on lymphocytes, a type of while blood cell.

The paper mentions that these delayed food sensitivities are associated with many disorders including: MS, rheumatoid arthritis, autism, and can present in a cluster of symptoms such as intestinal distress, fatigue, joint pain, migraines, and mood swings. They also note that while some individuals are sensitive to certain processes/cooked foods they may not have a sensitivity to the same raw food, and that traditional food sensitivity testing uses antigens derived from raw food isolates and thus does not reflect modern diets.

For this study, 40 food allergic people and 40 healthy individuals were used to test antigen reactivity to common raw and cooked foods.

The following table is the list of the raw foods and their cooked counterparts the researchers compared.

This paper includes charts for the antibody reactions for all these foods, but only for the highly sensitive people. Since I would argue that most of us are not highly sensitive people (in terms of food), I am more interested in how the non-highly sensitive people react. However, since the charts do show higher antibody reactions for ALL cooked foods, I don’t think that is unworthy of mention. Now, they do have a table that compares IgG reaction in 8 high reactive people with 8 low reactive people to the following  modified food antigens AGE-HSA, AGE-Hb, ox-LDL, and MBP.

From what I understand, AGE-HSA (AGE-human serum albumin) and AGE-Hb (AGE-hemoglobin) are both AGE food antigens, ox-LDL is an oxidized fat food antigen, and MBP is a myelin basic protein food antigen (these antibodies are linked to the progression of MS and other demyelinating diseases). Since I know the concentration of the first three are increased during cooking, the increased antibody response makes complete sense. Since both AGEs and oxidized substances are known to be harmful, it only seems natural the body would want to neutralize these substances to prevent damage. I am not very familiar with MBP, and still trying to learn about that antigen.

The following is the table comparing the 16 (8-high, 8 low) individual IgG responses to those four antigens.

Even though the highly sensitive people do indeed show a high IgG response to those 4 antigens, the low reactive people still show a very statistically significant response. This shows evidence for a chronic antibody response to these antigens, which would be greater with a greater processed food intake. One particularly important note made by the researches is that these antibodies can combine with the circulating antigens to form soluble immune complexes that could contribute to inflammation and autoimmunity.

So, I have learned AGEs now have another way they can damage the body. The results in this paper show that AGE formation from these food antigens not only stimulate an antibody response against them, but could also cause a response against self proteins, which would contribute to inflammation, aging, diabetes, neurodegeneration, and autoimmunity. However, the researchers do mention that further research need to be conducted to determine how much these antibodies need to be reduced via diet changes to show improvements in autoimmune disorders, metabolic syndrome, aging, and neurodegenerative disorders.

Disclaimer and Personal Rant

I feel conflicted about being a supporter of the raw food diet as a whole, because I think that the diet requires keen attention to supplementation, which many pure raw foodist don’t seem to do,  and some vegetables can have greater benefit lightly cooked. I don’t want to give food fundamentalists any ammunition. I have a big issue with food fundamentalists. I used to be one, so I feel like I can chastise. Too often science is neglected for emotion in these areas. The forums are very closed minded, and people aren’t allowed to discuss negatives even if it is in the form of a scientific study. I see this type of stuff all the time when I visit these forums looking for recipes, food ideas, or research for goodness sake. Sheesh. I have yet to see that attitude in the CR mailing lists or the Immortality Institute Forum.

That being said, I am trying to find my balance between raw and cooked, and I do think that a high percentage of raw is probably ideal if attention is given to supplementation and done in a logical way. I want all my decisions to be scientifically and logically rooted, rather emotionally rooted. Sure, the desire to be a life-extensionist is somewhat emotionally rooted, but how I approach that can be completely logical.

So, I shall quest on.